The 45-year-old coaching veteran has made seven moves between four different schools in the past 20 years but finally seems to have found a home at St. Michael.

Varnado had served as the school’s defensive coordinator and assistant head coach for the past five seasons for former Coach Eric Held, who accepted a position at Catholic-Baton Rouge this offseason. Varnado also had opportunities to St. Michael, but instead threw his name into the hat for the Warriors’ head coaching vacancy. Less than a month later, the position was his.

“It's something I wanted,” Varnado said. “I wanted to be here. I had a few other opportunities – several I turned down – because I thought this was a good place to be. I wanted to be in a quality program where the kids cared, and they work hard. I'm really enjoying being here.”

It was an easy and enjoyable transition for all parties. The school was able to hire from within, Varnado got to remain in the same system he helped build and the players were comfortable with the familiar face that was now in charge.

All three factors have led to a confident Warrior squad heading into the 2013 campaign despite returning just three starters on offense and nine seniors in total.

“It's been really smooth for the most part,” said senior linebacker Brennan Messina, who added that the day-to-day routines remained fairly consistent. “He already knew us and knew our strengths and weaknesses and where to put us. Practice for the most part is the same, but we all seem a lot more family oriented with each other. We've been bonding a lot more together. Everybody is buying into the system and it looks really positive.”

Considering Varnado’s resume, there should be a lot to get excited about for St. Michael.

The Istrouma and LSU alumnus has coached in the area for 20 years, working under respected named Roman Bates, Sid Edwards, Guy Mistretta and Dale Weiner.

Varnado also held another head coaching position 10 years ago at Catholic-Pointe Coupee but feels much more prepared for the task at hand this time around.

“When I got my first head coaching job I had only been coaching for about five years,” Varnado said. “At the time, I thought I was 100 percent ready, but as an older, veteran coach, I know I wasn’t. I learned a lot of lessons along the way and worked with some good guys. Those 10 years were huge in my tutelage as a coach.”

Varnado has taken a little something from each stop he’s made and implemented it into a St. Michael game plan that players say look similar to previous years with some new wrinkles and flairs on both sides of the ball.

“Our offense has changed up a little bit from the usual,” said senior safety Kyle Bankston. “(We’re running) under center more. I haven’t seen that in three years. It’s definitely exciting.”

Senior wide receiver Christian Frey agreed, saying that while the defense is roughly the same, the offense looks more dynamic than in years’ past.

“We're seeing a lot of motion side to side, a lot of deep balls and a short balls,” he said. “It's all mixed up. It's a lot more of a multi offense with a lot of different formations. You can just see that everybody is into it. Everybody is just engaged and seeing what we're doing in practice.”

Varnado’s goal, while not an easy one, is fairly straightforward – win a playoff game.

It’s a task that has yet to be completed at St. Michael despite a 7-3 regular season record in each of the past three seasons, but it’s also an objective the first-year Warriors’ coach feels is just around the corner.

“It’s been years in the making,” Varnado said. “When I came here with Eric Held, we were fighting to get that first playoff win, and we were so close a couple times but just couldn’t get it. We’re trying to get over that hump.”